Kristian Gleditsch

Kristian Gleditsch, MBE (30 June 1901 – 7 April 1973) was a Norwegian civil engineer and geodesist. He served as and Director of the Norwegian Mapping and Cadastre Authority from 1945 until 1971.

Background He was born in Tromsøysund Municipality (now part of Tromsø Municipality) in Troms county, Norway. He was a son of headmaster Karl Kristian Gleditsch (1851–1913) and Petra Birgitte Hansen (1857–1913). His family moved to Trondhjem and then Fredrikshald in 1905. From 1913 he lived with his sister Ellen Gleditsch.

He was a nephew of Jens Gran Gleditsch and Kristen Gran Gleditsch, a first cousin of Henry Gleditsch and second cousin of Rolf Juell Gleditsch and Odd Gleditsch, Sr. In February 1934 he married fellow activist Ingrid Margaret Haslund (1908–1996), better known as Nini Haslund Gleditsch.

Career He took his examen artium in Kristiania (now Oslo) in 1919, enrolled at the Norwegian Institute of Technology and graduated as a civil engineer in 1923. He studied further in France until 1925. He worked for the Norwegian Mapping and Cadastre Authority (then known as ) while studying, and when he returned to Norway in 1927 to work as a research assistant at the Norwegian Institute of Technology, he became a prominent member of the Student Society in Trondheim, Mot Dag and Clarté. He was also active in the Communist Party of Norway, but was excluded in 1929 because of his membership in Mot Dag.

Gleditsch was decorated with the Defense Metal and was declared a Member of the Order of the British Empire. He was decorated as a Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1970. He died on 7 April 1973 in Oslo.